For the record

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Mason County Circuit Court —A Gallipolis, Ohio man has entered into a plea agreement following his arrest in November on a drug charge.

Damaecus Q. Basham, 39, recently entered a plea of guilty to the felony offense of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in Mason County Circuit Court before Judge David W. Nibert. Basham is to return for sentencing at 10 a.m., July 17. Basham was represented at the plea hearing by Attorney R. Michael Shaw, Jr. with Prosecuting Attorney R. Craig Tatterson representing the state.

According to the official criminal complaint filed in Mason County Magistrate Court, Patrolmen Tyler DeWeese and D.M. Taylor with the Point Pleasant Police Department were dispatched by Mason County 911 to respond to an apartment at 402 21st St. The apartment was occupied by a resident who stated there were people dealing drugs inside his home and he didn’t want them there, the complaint said. The resident led the officers into his apartment, and upon entering the living room an unidentified female was on the couch and Basham was sitting in a chair.

The complaint goes on to say, sitting on a table in the living room were seven individually “plastic wrapped” baggies of green leafy vegetation, along with a larger sandwich bag of green leafy vegetation and a set of digital scales. On top of the scales was a piece of green leafy vegetation allegedly being weighed. Also, Basham was allegedly holding a pair of scissors in his right hand and a piece of leafy green vegetation in his left hand and appeared to be cutting the vegetation into pieces, according to the complaint. The seven clear, small baggies with the vegetation inside were allegedly packaged in a manner to be sold individually, according to the complaint.

Basham was indicted by the January term of the grand jury for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.